We woke up with a mission to go get coffee. Leila had already received a multitude of Eid messages overnight. Instagram had told Leila that Coffee Jar, a little coffee shop on Camden Parkway had opened up the day before for takeaway. Leila saw that Ottolenghi had commented on their instagram post with a love heart, and she knew immediately that she wanted to go there. They walked 17mins to the coffee shop and ordered 2 oat flat whites per usual. Alex bought a spinach and feta pastry from a Greek shop nearby. They didnt see Ottolenghi sadly but Alex did think he saw Alistair Darwood from St Pauls, but wasn’t sure. They headed to Regent’s Park to sip their coffee in the wind/sun and watched the 11am Ismaili TV broadcast there where Leila’s parents, along with other leadership, were giving Eid messages. Leila’s parents looked nice and delivered a message that seemed less forced than others. They then headed back via the Korean supermarket to pick up kimchi, sweet potatoes, fish sauce, barley water, beansprouts, noodles. They then picked up some tahini and gram flour from a little mediterranean store before running back home as A was late for the start of D&D.
As it was Eid, L decided to make an Indian dish that her grandma usually makes and her mum never attempts. She now knows why. It’s called “Chila” and it’s a gram flour spicy pancake served with pickle. L couldn’t get the consistency right and it was much thicker than she hoped, but tasted ok. She later called her grandma and got some tips for next time. Meanwhile, in D&D land, things were swimmingly until a heated discussion about teleportation rules kicked off. A didn’t do a lot for most of the time and focused on emails. After D&D, they ate pizza (mainly A), lay outside in the garden and then A played games and called Umar to reconcile D&D issues. L joined her family Zoom call which was a lot of Eid celebrations, but she was sad to see that her great uncle had deteriorated in health and looked very weak, although perked up a little on the call. L joined a live yoga with Arabella and her old housemate, Senuri. The yoga was good but L could barely hear anything and so couldn’t really concentrate on it. A joined in half way through and they finished the class together holding yin poses, which they both struggled with. A then gave L a massage which made her feel great. L then showered and listened to Ludovico Einaudi followed by love poems read by Alex but written by old dead guys and girls (L wanted an ADV original). After her shower, she felt a little sad about her great uncle and called her mum to chat. A tidied stuff because he knew it would make L feel better. L cooked some leeks, onions and an egg for a light dinner. A was full so didn’t eat. He put on nice music and they looked at old photos together, and finished off the bottle of wine together. A was feeling very contemplative and they chatted about feeling small and whether other people think they have to (/ have the ability to) change the world. They headed to bed and listened to more Ludovico Einaudi and stayed up for a little longer.
Coffee, Wine and Isolation 